*Attention*

Dear members of Salem,

We will resume corporate worship the weekend of June 6^th and 7^th, 2020.  Please read the following plan and guidelines for our resuming our public life together.

1. Worship, committee meetings will resume and follow our normal schedule.
2. Summer Catechesis begins June 3^rd and will last for eight weeks.  Confirmation will be on July 26^th or August 16^th depending on the decision of parents as to which date works better for them.  Summer Catechesis is for all Salem member children entering the 5^th Grade through to those who have just completed 8^th Grade.
3. At this time, Adult Bible classes, and Sunday School will continue to be suspended. 
4. Everyone’s temperature will be taken when you arrive for worship, and we asking everyone to wear a mask. Hand sanitizer will be provided at each entrance for everyone to use.
5. The drinking fountains are not to be used at this time.  Please bring bottled water for your use while at church.
6. At this time, congregational singing will be suspended. Pastor will continue to sing the hymns.
7. The hymnals will not be used at this time, and have been removed from the sanctuary.  Please use the slides or the printed service and take it home with you.
8. If you are sick stay at home.  If you have a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, do not come to church. 
9. If you are in a high risk group or have an underlying health condition(s), we encourage you to continue to stay at home for now, but it is up to you whether you should return to worship.
10. If you have been to an area with a significant outbreak of Covid-19, i.e. Chicago area, please wait to return to worship until after 14 days.  A Covid 19 questionnaire is available is attached to email, Facebook page, and on the website.
11. Since we are practicing ‘social distancing’, when you come to worship spread out across the sanctuary.  An usher will assist you in finding a seat if necessary.  Also, please avoid shaking hands or giving hugs.  There will also be no ‘handshake ritual’ after worship.  We are also discouraging socializing before and after church services.
12. We will be collecting the offering at the door to avoid passing the plates.  The offering plates will be brought forward in the usual way.  If you cannot attend please mail in or drop off your offering to the office.  You also have the option of setting up electronic offering with the Business Manager.

Communion Distribution has come up in discussions everywhere.  A recent CDC report states that Covid-19 is not easily spread on surfaces.  The best scientific research prior to this pandemic indicates that it is absolutely safe to partake of the common cup. In fact, it may be even more safe to partake of the common cup than of the individual cups. Why is this?

1. The chalice is sterling silver, which has antimicrobial properties.
2. The alcoholic content of the wine in the cup kills many germs.
3. The “purificator” (the cloth used to cleanse the cup after each communicant) is now soaked in grain alcohol.
4. Pastor and elders will sanitize their hands right before the distribution.
5. The CDC has studied the use of the common cup and has concluded:

“No episode of disease attributable to the shared communion cup has ever been reported. Currently available data do not provide any support for suggesting that the practice of sharing a common communion cup should be abandoned because it might spread infection.”

6. We will continue to offer the body of Christ both on the tongue or in the hand as well as the blood of Christ from both the chalice and the individual cups. Remember that you are free in Christ!
7. Communion distribution will be ‘continuous’.   The usher will admit eight communicants at a time, and give to each hand sanitizer.  Communicants will form a single file line to receive the host from the pastor.  The Chalice and the individual cups will be given on the Lecturn side.  The server will offer both while holding the Chalice offering it to those that desire it and offering the individual cups to those gesturing for them to take their cup from the tray.  In either case, saying: “Take drink the Blood of Christ shed for you.”
8. We are also spreading out the individual cups over more trays to avoid inadvertent touching of fingers to multiple cups.

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."  (Ephesians 4:31-32)